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From: "UNCLE DAMIEN" <uncle.d@...> To: The Melbourne Herald
Sun hsletters@... and The Age letters@... . Sent:
Saturday, July 30, 2005 2:55 PM Subject: YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR.


The Monash University Accident Research Centre report recommending the
motorbike & scooter licence age be raised to 21 across Australia is bad
science. Buyers set terms of reference and usually get what they pay for.

If the aim of MUARC's study was to reduce road casualties then reducing
our exposure to single-occupant car drivers would work better and help
the environment. If the aim was to show that driving a car improves
rider skill and alertness, then a study of car drivers, one group with
bike experience, one without, over 5 years (?), would have been more
credible. It could have shown car drivers who ride bikes are safer. Good
science might say bike licences should be available before car licences.

In spite of increased restrictions and taxes motorbikes & scooters have
been growing in popularity for two decades. More than 280,000 Victorians
hold bike licences and pay road taxes. Machines and safety gear have
improved hugely over 20 years making riding the safest and greenest it's
ever been.

The Motorcycle Riders Association wrote. "It is immediately apparent
from an initial study of the full report that the aim is not to produce
safer riders - but to produce fewer riders." Reducing the number of
pedestrians and bicyclists reduces the road toll too. Considering
under-reporting of bicycle crashes, restrictive regulations and taxes
should be appropriate for them too.

Most cars carry just one person, many on unnecessary trips. The prime
cause of all road trauma is car driver error. Reduce unnecessary,
single-occupant car trips and have a relatively large impact on
vulnerable road user casualties. That is, fewer hurt pedestrians,
bicyclists, motorbike and scooter riders.

The world warms, our roads are car parks and honoured research
establishments are wasting resources on reducing the public's exposure
to motorbikes & scooters. Better, fairer and cheaper in the long run to
adopt a bicycle-type policy for commuter cycles to reduce road trauma
while improving the environment.

Damien Codognotto OAM MRA Life Member. Ulysses Club 21208. Tel: 03 9846
8621. www.nmcins.com.au


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